Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“Interesting thing about evilness?
It has different layers.
One is born in hideousness and deviant desires.
While the other is born in rage so strong, it consumes you.
Wishing to find the outlet for all the suffering it made you experience.”
Levi
Levi, 8 years old
The water dripping into the sink echoes through the small space as I rock back and forth, the sound driving me crazy and hurting my ears.
Although that is nothing compared to the festering bruises on my back pulsing from the whip, and my broken elbow throbbing with pain.
Tap, tap, tap.
“The piece of shit refused to comply once again,” John says into the phone, sitting on the chair and taking a huge sip from his whiskey glass. “He’s always been a problem, and I’m starting to get tired of it.”
I press my back against the cage’s bars, and it rattles, making the man throw an empty can at me, smirking.
One day, I’ll knock out all his teeth.
I shift, although there isn’t much space inside for that. The cage is tiny, and I can’t even sit straight in it. They call it my punishment for being difficult. All the other children are in a different room with spacious cages.
As if it changes anything, I always spit on their faces, which earns me a few more hits, but it’s worth it.
I will never be grateful for sitting in a cage!
“You brought him to me and said what? Clean up the fucker and sell him to the highest bidder, and that’s what I did. Except he bit the client, and it cost us a fortune instead!”
I stay unmovable even though revulsion rushes through me at the reminder of that time they dragged me into a red room to some old man, ready to do whatever to me.
The minute the door locked, he pounced on me, trying to touch me, but I managed to grab a nearby cane first and hit him with it, which he didn’t expect.
Since he was old, I got a few more hits before John and his men came, ripping me away from him while joy filled my bones at the sight of blood on the man.
They tried this trick a few more times, but I always managed to get away at the last minute even though the various cries from the children in the other rooms didn’t help.
My soul bleeds for them.
Finally, they gave up and started selling me for other purposes.
Turns out, some people would pay a lot to torture children, beat them up, and watch them being chased by some wild animals, setting up bets to see if the child will survive.
We exist for their hideous entertainment only.
So my face is blue-green on a permanent basis, blood always dripping from some wounds, and they break my bones.
Still, I fight them.
I fight as much as I can, and I think it sells well because John still keeps me alive.
“Also, the feds are on our asses, so I think we need to move the business. Besides this new gig, selling organs? Lots of money in that, and all these kids are awaiting their turn. I asked the doc to check the little fucker, and turns out his liver is a match to what one of the clients requested for his son. I’m telling you, let’s get rid of the problem and earn some money. ”
Over the past years, they took us, me and other children, from place to place while starting various businesses that always included the children’s suffering.
Lately, they moved into this warehouse that reminds me of the mansion. They bring all these children from the streets, wash them up, keep them healthy and well-fed, compared to me, while the doctor runs tests on them.
They go somewhere never to be seen again. Then they bring another set of children. It’s always around twenty of us. We don’t talk, and I generally stay secluded in this cage.
“There is also Lachlan Scott. That fucker and his protégés have been destroying the trafficking rings all over the country, and soon, he’ll get to us. I’d rather be caught by the feds than him. He’s fucking crazy and would make us suffer in ways we can’t imagine.”
Lachlan Scott.
I’ve been hearing this name a lot lately. Usually, it’s the only one that makes them all tremble in fear, and whenever they mention him, I get curious, wanting to see him for myself.
A man who apparently makes it his mission to save the likes of us, the children and people who no one gives a shit about.
That’s what John called us anyway.
Lachlan’s also a murderer because whoever he deals with ends up dead in the most horrible way.
Good riddance, if you ask me.
“So I say let’s do the final surgery today, dispose of the body, then transfer everyone to a different state. Maybe we’ll cover our tracks.”
Drumming my fingers on my knees, I wonder what I could do to change their minds because I have to survive.
“As long as you breathe, you win.”
Scrunching my eyes at my mom’s voice in my head, I focus back on the present because the painful memories have no place in my agonizing present.
“Plus, I’m not sure how long he’ll survive being the punching bag.” A beat passes. “All right. It’s a deal.” He hangs up and grins. “Finally, I can get rid of you. You’ve been a fucking headache from the start. We should have given you to Robert.”
I tug on the chains and bang on the cage at hearing his name, the monster who killed my mother and who still has my sister. They keep on saying what a devoted father he is despite his sickness.
Whatever that means, his powerful family probably covers all his tracks. At least that’s why these men are afraid of him and always hide me whenever he comes around.
And he does, desperately searching for me.
Just his voice inspires so much rage and determination to kill them all that it fuels me for days to come to withstand whatever they throw my way.
“Dylan!” John shouts, and in a second, his man comes.
“Help me pick up this damn cage, and let’s bring him to the main room with all the other kids.
The doc will be performing surgeries tonight before we wrap up all this shit.
Do you have the list of orders?” Over the years, I’ve heard and seen so many horrible things, I feel I’m immune to them.
“Make sure to feed them well tonight.” He gets up and bangs on the top of my cage.
“Except him. Running on day ten now, huh?” He laughs as my stomach rumbles, and still, my face stays blank.
Hunger is nothing new to me. They constantly withhold food or water from me or force me to drink it by sucking it off the dirty mop.
I don’t think in such moments, imagining being in the wide-open field and not allowing myself to understand just what they do to me.
“As long as you breathe, you win.”
Dylan joins him, and, huffing and puffing, they pick up the cage and walk toward the other room, where it’s squeaky clean, and everything is so white.
I enjoy the complete silence. They drop the cage in the right corner, and I bump my head while a shooting pain travels from my elbow to my arm once again. I roll my lips, though, refusing to give them any sound or words.
That’s been my only payback to them. No matter how much they try to bait me into showing them my suffering, I withhold my screams.
There are surgical tables, along with instruments and a beeping machine. That’s where he performs all his mysterious surgeries, which must make him the happiest man alive, as he always smiles.
A lot of their men are walking around, surveilling the room, and there are countless more outside.
I should know. I’ve tried running away ten times and failed because these evil men are very devoted to their cause.
The children must still be in another room. They are probably preparing them, and I study this new bright room, making my eyes hurt, searching for a way out because I can’t die.
Not today. Not until they are all alive.
The doors burst open, and John’s best friend Bill enters. “Looks good, boys.” John flips him off. “Just imagining all the money we’ll get tonight makes all this bullshit worth it.” He looks at me. “You ended up being a liability. A fucking pig we fed for years that gave us absolutely nothing.”
The doctor follows him, wearing his usual blue costume, and John motions with his head to me.
“Start with him, Doc. Also, don’t use any anesthesia. I want his screams and pain.” The doctor nods. “May you suffer as long as possible, little shit, while we methodically remove all your organs.”
The doctor prepares the table and puts on his white gloves while all the men grin. The panic finally settles in, and I push against the cage harder, thinking what I could do.
There is no way out for me. They are too strong, and none of them would change their minds. They plan to move to another state because of that Lachlan guy, so they won’t need me again.
Besides, the taller I become, the less entertaining I am to the men who like to beat me up. They have no reason to keep me.
So I will die tonight? Let him win?
The exhausted part of me whispers into my ear that I will see my mom again. She must be in heaven, as according to her, all religions preached about good people going there. I’d be able to smell her scent, hug her tight, and hopefully finally see her smile without any bruises.
I should wish to die to end it all, but I want their blood and their suffering instead. I don’t understand it as they treat me worse than dirt under their nails and still, I want to survive.
So I do something I haven’t done in a while because I didn’t want to bother him, but Mama said he’d always listen to those who truly need his protection.
Closing my eyes, I lock my hands together and pray to Thor. The mighty god of thunder. Mama said all these gods are forgotten now, but I believe in them.
I don’t know any other way.
Please help me, Thor. Please.
I chant it over and over again, freezing only when I hear John’s muttered, “What the hell?” I open my eyes to gasp in shock at the complete darkness greeting me. “Who the fuck turned off the lights?”